News headlines in 2025, page 221

Following pronouncements of an end to hostilities between the neighbouring nuclear powers, the UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, said that the organisation stands ready to support efforts aimed at promoting peace and stability in the region.

A cycling network expanded from 70 kilometres to over 400 kilometres in Fortaleza, Brazil. A project to create a bike lane in every street of Paris. And the longest pedestrian and cycle tunnel in the world, in the Norwegian coastal city of Bergen.

BULAWAYO, Zimbabwe, May 09 (IPS) - Migren Matanga grew up shying away from small and traditional grains in Rushinga, in northern Zimbabwe.

BRUSSELS, Belgium / MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay, May 09 (IPS) - The world’s population is ageing. Global life expectancy has leapt to 73.3 years, up from under 65 in 1995. Around the world, there are now 1.1 billion people aged 60-plus, expected to rise to 1.4 billion by 2030 and 2.1 billion by 2050.

This demographic shift is a triumph, reflecting public health successes, medical advances and better nutrition. But it brings human rights challenges.

PARIS / BRUSSELS, May 09 (IPS) - If one so wished, it would be entirely possible to spend a lifetime travelling from one international environmental conference to the next, without ever returning home. But the relentless pace of these meetings does not always translate into equally rapid action.

A looming global copper shortage could stall the world’s transition to clean energy and digital technologies unless smarter trade and investment strategies are adopted, the UN’s trade and development body, UNCTAD, has warned.

UN humanitarian teams have completed a mission to the Sudanese town of Tawila to provide life-saving assistance for civilians recently displaced by intensifying violence in North Darfur state.

The United States’ decision to halt future funding to the UN sexual and reproductive health agency, UNFPA, will slash critical health services for women and girls worldwide, the agency warned on Friday.

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) has warned that millions of people in West and Central Africa are facing record hunger as conflict, displacement, economic hardship and repeated extreme weather push the region towards a major crisis.

Costa Rica’s long-standing commitment to protecting refugees is under threat as severe funding cuts cripple support for surging numbers of Nicaraguan asylum seekers, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) warned on Friday.